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Youth delivers testimony on chemical spill

Published: May 12, 2014

"My name is Destiny Gallagher, I'm 15 years old, and I have some important questions."

Photo: AFSC

February 2014 – With her speech in hand Destiny Gallagher approached the podium and saw the floor and galleries in the House of Delegates chamber at West Virginia’s State Capitol filled with people and news cameras everywhere. As a fifteen year old from Boone County, she was the youngest person to speak at the public hearing on the chemical spill which affected 300,000 residents’ drinking water. Destiny had some tough questions for our legislators and spoke eloquently and powerfully about the dangerous impact of too much corporate power. Destiny said, “We deserve better. This chemical spill and lack of regulation is affecting people’s lives. Water is a necessity of life and we cannot allow it to be poisoned anymore.” Destiny is a leader. She’s a member of the Appalachian Center for Equality youth leadership group in Boone County.

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